Web 2.0, social sites and privacy

As you explore web 2.0 tools in the upcoming weeks, you will notice that to fully particpate in many social sites, users have to give up some peronsal privacy to connect with others online. I mean that they are explicitly asked to divulge some information about themselves to join the fun.

I am suggesting an alternative for you to think about during Learning 2.0. These users might be in the process of redefining personal privacy. OR the value that society places on personal informaton as a commodity.

In our traditional gatekeeper role, we need to be prepared to provide multiple entry points to personal information and interaction levels. We need to fit our services into our user's model, as opposed to fitting the user into the library's model.

We also need to recognize that this privacy and participation issue presents us with an opportunity to teach people to manage their online privacy in a manner that suits them best. So that they are smart digital citizens. To do this, we need to understand all the available options and their implications.

Web 2.0 is about collaboration, community, and conversation. To make these things possible, users must participate at some level, possibly revealing personal information

Privacy part 2

I wrote about privacy this morning because I read Feed over the weekend; it got me thinking about a lot of things --- information overload, love and personal privacy. Diane W sent me an email to say that Aaron Schmidt at walkingpaper.org blogged about something similar yesterday. Obviously, I am behind on my reading. Thanks to Diane for the tip. Unfortunately, I think the server where walkingpaper.org lives is having some issues today. Neither Diane nor I can get the link to work. I could only read the first 4 paragraphs of the post.

First thing tomorrow, read "Privacy is not an option" at walkingpaper.org. After you read the post, ask yourself this question "what role (s) should librarians play?"